Are Only Certain People Suppose to Engage in 'Spiritual Warfare'? What do you know of God's expectations towards YOU regarding this subject?
Posted : 16 Jun, 2022 11:35 AM
'For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the [manner of the] flesh: for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but [instead, in being spiritual in their nature, they are more effectively] mighty, through God
- to the pulling down of strong holds;
- [to the] casting down of: imaginations, (and every high thing) that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God; and
- [to the] bringing into captivity, every thought, to the obedience of Christ...'
DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEART LEST YOU CHANCE FALLING INTO THE DANGEROUS SIN OF 'UNBELIEF'. Most of the people who followed Moses into the wilderness had come to a place of 'belief' regarding God in having witnessed all the plagues put upon Egypt... but when difficulties came in their journey in the Wilderness, doubts also came, and there was 'a falling away' into 'unbelief'... And it appears, according to scripture, that God views the 'state of unbelief' as being equal to having 'no belief'... What can we glean from The Word regarding this? and how might we understand the magnitude of the warning to: 'Harden not your heart as they did in 'the provocation'? So is this what caused those that came out of Egypt to not be able to enter the 'physical' Promised Land?
Posted : 16 Apr, 2022 11:17 PM
Well... God fulfilled His part, so what happened? They did not fulfill their part... They chose to exercise their Freewill - to continue to 'have faith and believe', or to give place to doubt and 'fall into unbelief'.
And similarly, the book of Hebrews, also explains that there is yet a promise... 'a Spiritual Promise', still left to you and l, as believers - yet the same conditions required of those who left Egypt are the same requirements that need to be met by us, in order for us to enter the 'Eternal (spiritual) Promise Land'.
That condition is that 'the seed of faith' MUST BE mixed with 'belief' in the heart of the person who seeks to enter 'The Promised Land'. And once we witness that condition having been met within ourself, and recognize there is 'an enlivened hope' within us, then we must maintain that 'belief' through our diligent caretaking of it, lest we be drawn away, bit by bit, and slowly enticed to fall away from God, into the ultimate sin of unbelief which in its harshest manifestations, is the loss of one's faith.
('Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you AN EVIL HEART OF UNBELIEF, IN DEPARTING FROM the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, IF WE hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; while it is said, "To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation." For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, (in doubting to the point of having no faith in God) whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to THEM THAT BELIEVED NOT? So we see that they COULD NOT ENTER IN BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF.' Hebrews 3:12-19 KJV)
UNBELIEF is a devastating sin to the soul for the Bible tells us 'without faith we cannot please God'.
Perhaps it may be that only a person who has once believed, can fall into the sin of unbelief. This being compared to those who have never believe, and they being in a state of 'non-belief' compared to those who are eventually found in a state of 'un-belief'. Something must be 'done' before it can be UN-done... So it would seem logical that to fall into a state of UN-belief, one must first be in a state of 'belief', in order that it be 'UN-done'.
Unbelief springs forth from doubt and doubt that is not dealt with, and if it is fed, and allowed to grow, it becomes skeptism which is the antithesis of faith. (Skepticism, uncontested, eventually begets 'the scorner')
2nd Peter 1:1 tells us that it is through the righteousness of both God, and Christ, His son, that we receive that seed of faith.
ln Hebrews 4: 2 we see that the gospel being preached, if received into a receptive heart, (which establishes 'belief'), and when mixed with that seed of faith, is the circumstance and process whereby we may obtain eternal life and salvation.
The bible states that faith comes by hearing, and hearing, by the word of God. So it would appear that faith that lies within the seed, is itself, dormant. The seed is not, in and of itself, faith. it is the potentiality for faith to be born in the heart of the individual. But faith cannot take root unless the seed sprouts - the seed itself must be enlivened by water. In this case the water being the Holy Spirit's work of administering the living waters of the word of God, that, if willingly received by the individual, makes its way to the place in the heart, where that dormant seed of faith, waits. If a person receives the (living) word of God into their heart then the seed will be enlivened by the living waters of the Holy Spirit, and begin to grow.
If a person hears the word of God, yet will not receive it, they have exercised their Free Will right to harden their heart. The willful hardening of the heart encases the seed in an impenetrable situation. If the word of God, that Living Water, does not reach the seed, the seed will not sprout... Or if the essence of the living water finds momentary entry, and the seed of faith is allowed to sprout, yet for some reason, the hardening of the heart is again put into place - the tender new sprout will die in the unrelenting Darkness.
So, today, if you will (will = choose to) hear his voice,
'Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, In the day of temptation in the wilderness: Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, And said, They do alway err in their heart; And they have not known my ways.( the process of sanctification 2nd Peter: 1 through 12) So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.'Hebrews 3:8,10-12 KJV
'Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed (unto the saving of our souls, this being the final event of being received into the fullness of Christ as our Kinsman Redeemer ie. 'The Day of Redemption' - aka. The Wedding Feast) do enter into rest, as He said, "As I have sworn in my wrath, If they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world". Hebrews 4:1-3 KJV
Therefore it is up to each person, each one of us, to determine whether we will mix a personal belief in the gospel with that seed of faith. And then hold to that faith... until the end... even through the hard days... and Satan's tempting us to doubt the faithfulness of God, in His willingness to see us through to the end...
'Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only LORD God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage. But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.' Jude 1:3-5, 10, 16-21 KJV
My friend, YHWH will do as He has promised -- in all regards.
'...according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began."
DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEART LEST YOU CHANCE FALLING INTO THE DANGEROUS SIN OF 'UNBELIEF'. Most of the people who followed Moses into the wilderness had come to a place of 'belief' regarding God in having witnessed all the plagues put upon Egypt... but when difficulties came in their journey in the Wilderness, doubts also came, and there was 'a falling away' into 'unbelief'... And it appears, according to scripture, that God views the 'state of unbelief' as being equal to having 'no belief'... What can we glean from The Word regarding this? and how might we understand the magnitude of the warning to: 'Harden not your heart as they did in 'the provocation'? So is this what caused those that came out of Egypt to not be able to enter the 'physical' Promised Land?
Posted : 16 Apr, 2022 11:05 PM
Well... God fulfilled His part, so what happened? They did not fulfill their part... They chose to exercise their Freewill - to continue to 'have faith and believe', or to give place to doubt and 'fall into unbelief'.
And similarly, the book of Hebrews, also explains that there is yet a promise... 'a Spiritual Promise', still left to you and l, as believers - yet the same conditions required of those who left Egypt are the same requirements that need to be met by us, in order for us to enter the 'Eternal (spiritual) Promise Land'.
That condition is that 'the seed of faith' MUST BE mixed with 'belief' in the heart of the person who seeks to enter 'The Promised Land'. And once we witness that condition having been met within ourself, and recognize there is 'an enlivened hope' within us, then we must maintain that 'belief' through our diligent caretaking of it, lest we be drawn away, bit by bit, and slowly enticed to fall away from God, into the ultimate sin of unbelief which in its harshest manifestations, is the loss of one's faith.
('Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you AN EVIL HEART OF UNBELIEF, IN DEPARTING FROM the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, IF WE hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; while it is said, "To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation." For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, (in doubting to the point of having no faith in God) whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to THEM THAT BELIEVED NOT? So we see that they COULD NOT ENTER IN BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF.' Hebrews 3:12-19 KJV)
UNBELIEF is a devastating sin to the soul for the Bible tells us 'without faith we cannot please God'.
Perhaps it may be that only a person who has once believed, can fall into the sin of unbelief. This being compared to those who have never believe, and they being in a state of 'non-belief' compared to those who are eventually found in a state of 'un-belief'. Something must be 'done' before it can be UN-done... So it would seem logical that to fall into a state of UN-belief, one must first be in a state of 'belief', in order that it be 'UN-done'.
Unbelief springs forth from doubt and doubt that is not dealt with, and if it is fed, and allowed to grow, it becomes skeptism which is the antithesis of faith. (Skepticism, uncontested, eventually begets 'the scorner')
2nd Peter 1:1 tells us that it is through the righteousness of both God, and Christ, His son, that we receive that seed of faith.
ln Hebrews 4: 2 we see that the gospel being preached, if received into a receptive heart, (which establishes 'belief'), and when mixed with that seed of faith, is the circumstance and process whereby we may obtain eternal life and salvation.
The bible states that faith comes by hearing, and hearing, by the word of God. So it would appear that faith that lies within the seed, is itself, dormant. The seed is not, in and of itself, faith. it is the potentiality for faith to be born in the heart of the individual. But faith cannot take root unless the seed sprouts - the seed itself must be enlivened by water. In this case the water being the Holy Spirit's work of administering the living waters of the word of God, that, if willingly received by the individual, makes its way to the place in the heart, where that dormant seed of faith, waits. If a person receives the (living) word of God into their heart then the seed will be enlivened by the living waters of the Holy Spirit, and begin to grow.
If a person hears the word of God, yet will not receive it, they have exercised their Free Will right to harden their heart. The willful hardening of the heart encases the seed in an impenetrable situation. If the word of God, that Living Water, does not reach the seed, the seed will not sprout... Or if the essence of the living water finds momentary entry, and the seed of faith is allowed to sprout, yet for some reason, the hardening of the heart is again put into place - the tender new sprout will die in the unrelenting Darkness.
So, today, if you will (will = choose to) hear his voice,
'Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, In the day of temptation in the wilderness: Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, And said, They do alway err in their heart; And they have not known my ways.( the process of sanctification 2nd Peter: 1 through 12) So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.'Hebrews 3:8,10-12 KJV
'Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed (unto the saving of our souls, this being the final event of being received into the fullness of Christ as our Kinsman Redeemer ie. 'The Day of Redemption' - aka. The Wedding Feast) do enter into rest, as He said, "As I have sworn in my wrath, If they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world". Hebrews 4:1-3 KJV
Therefore it is up to each person, each one of us, to determine whether we will mix a personal belief in the gospel with that seed of faith. And then hold to that faith... until the end... even through the hard days... and Satan's tempting us to doubt the faithfulness of God, in His willingness to see us through to the end...
'Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only LORD God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage. But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.' Jude 1:3-5, 10, 16-21 KJV
My friend, YHWH will do as He has promised -- in all regards.
'...according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began."
With the world... families... culture... moral depravity... confusion and moral decline within 'the church' --- if you could wake tomorrow and be 15 again, would you choose to do so?
Posted : 11 Apr, 2022 12:18 PM
Hi James, the question was meant only as a mental exercise of 'putting ourselves in another's place'... and no, sorry...😐 it didn't come with any options like having the blessings of knowledge gleaned from having experienced years of life past 15. It is about the situation of being young, vulnerable, and ill-prepared for the world thrust upon our current, younger generation.
And the hope of encouraging my brothers and sisters in christ to simply be willing to minister in our 'professed, christian belief' - even if it be nothing more than a willingness to pray for the youth of today... Their spiritual battle is far worse than ours ever was, as we were growing up... our hearts should have tenderness, concern and compassion for those so much in need...
A Book of Tremendous Value in Understanding the Real Dynamics of Romantic Relationships
Posted : 8 Apr, 2022 09:06 PM
The title of the book is:
'The Psychology of Romantic Relationships'
by Nathaniell Branden
The fist 3 or 4 chapters are pretty dry reading, but after that, you will be glad you bought the book.
People where l worked would hear about it from someone l had lent it to and would come and asked to borrow it. That's how insightful and revelatory it is.
With the world... families... culture... moral depravity... confusion and moral decline within 'the church' --- if you could wake tomorrow and be 15 again, would you choose to do so?
Posted : 8 Apr, 2022 08:37 PM
l personally, cannot image being in such a difficult place in life as this would seem to be... and l don't want to subject my heart to the repurcussions of dwelling too long, on such thoughts... But my purpose here is to lift the idea of 'love', up - and have it recognized as being 'an action word'...
So l simply want to say, if you take time to consider this scenario... And if you conclude you are thankful not to be a young girl/woman in these difficult and challenging times, then consider allowing God to use you, if and when, the time arises, that you might lend an ear... speak a word of encouragement... or just 'be there' for someone who is in that place of being so young,... and vulnerable to so many life-changing, and potentially devastating, influences.
Good words... good works... are the fruit of christian love - this is the essence of ministering to others... this is the meaning... the essence... of 'Charity'.
'And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.'
'For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.'
'but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every person that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear'...
1 Corinthians 13:13 KJV... James 2:26 KJV... 1 Peter 3:15 KJV
With the world... families... culture... moral depravity... confusion and moral decline within 'the church' --- if you could wake tomorrow and be 15 again, would you choose to do so?
Posted : 8 Apr, 2022 08:32 PM
l personally, cannot image being in such a difficult place in life as this would seem to be... and l don't want to subject my heart to the repurcussions of dwelling too long, on such thoughts... But my purpose here is to lift the idea of 'love', up - and have it recognized as being 'an action word'...
So l simply want to say, if you take time to consider this scenario... And if you conclude you are thankful not to be a young man in these difficult and challenging times, then consider allowing God to use you, if and when, the time arises, that you might lend an ear... speak a word of encouragement... or just 'be there' for someone who is in that place of being so young,... and vulnerable to so many life-changing, and potentially devastating, influences.
Good words... good works... are the fruit of christian love - this is the essence of ministering to others... this is the meaning... the essence... of 'Charity'.
'And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.'
'For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.'
'but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear'...
1 Corinthians 13:13 KJV... James 2:26 KJV... 1 Peter 3:15 KJV
Peace... why does it feel so elusive? If you'd care to share your thoughts, l welcome the chance to hear what you think.
Posted : 7 Apr, 2022 05:57 PM
As for me... l wrote this just a bit ago, concerning my thoughts on where l am, today... l'd like to share it with you: "l am in the keeping of my Heavenly Father... He will lead me through each moment if l give to Him, the fullness of my day. l am, learning to be 'content'. It is a difficult lesson for those of us who still seek to find joy in something we don't have, but nonetheless, desire. To understand that l must be content in the moment, not always longing for other things, is teaching me where it is that l can, at last, find the presence of peace, in each moment. 🙂 As for me... l... am... 'good'!..."
Peace... why does it feel so elusive? If you'd care to share your thoughts, l welcome the chance to hear what you think.
Posted : 7 Apr, 2022 05:42 PM
As for me... l wrote this just a bit ago, concerning my thoughts on where l am, today... l'd like to share it with you: "l am in the keeping of my Heavenly Father... He will lead me through each moment if l give to Him, the fullness of my day. l am, learning to be 'content'. It is a difficult lesson for those of us who still seek to find joy in something we don't have, but nonetheless, desire. To understand that l must be content in the moment, not always longing for other things, is teaching me where it is that l can, at last, find the presence of peace, in each moment. 🙂 As for me... l... am... 'good'!..."
